Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-21
A SURRY MYSTERY.
Mysterious Shooting ofFarmer Col.
Her on Thursday Night.

| Especial telegram to the Dispatch.l
PETERSBURG, Va, August 2O.-A de.
cided sensation has been caused in
Surry county by the discovery of the
dead body Of Mr.. Monroe Collier un-
der circumstances that give rise to Sis
picions OF murder. Mr.. Collier was a
farmer, and lived about one mile from
the Courthouse. Reports of his dis
appearance led to the organization of
a searching party yesterday morning,
and late Ill the afternoon his body was
found about one and half miles from
his house, pierced by two gunshot
wounds.
HIS wIFE'S STATEMENT.
Mrs. Collier says that about / o'clock
Thursday night her husband, thinking
he heard some disturbance in the yard,
went ont to ascertain the cause. In a
few minutes he returned, saying he
could discover nothing. He seemed to
be uneasy, but his wife says he quietly
went back to bed, and, as she thought,
fell asleep. When she awoke yester-
morning, however, she found that Mr..
Collier and his gun were both missing.
The ncighbors were notified and search
instituted. About one hundred yards
from the house a pool of blood was
found, and then traces of blood and
tracks leading away from the house. A
little further on were found two empty
shells, belonging to Golfers gun,
covered with blood, but all further
traces were lost Another party, how
ever, half a mile from the house found
Mr.. Golfers shoes lying by fence,
where apparently they had been
dropped when he climbed over. Yhe
shoes were bloody, but there were no
traces of blood on the fence or on the
ground anywhere near.
THE DEAD BODY FOUND.
By this time the searching party had
increased to thirty or forty people, and,
scattering themselves all through the
woods, the hunt became intensely ex-
citing. After three or four hours
search the body was found, lying face
downwards, the head resting on the
arm, as though the man were asleep
There were no signs of any struggle
near, nor blood within ten steps of the
body. His gun was lying by his side,
with two empty shells in the barrels.
The stock was broken at the breach,
the barrels bent ont of shape and one
OF them broken.
he WAS SHOT TWICE.
Examination showed that he had
been shot twice; one load entering the
head under the chin, tearing the whole
chin away. The other wound was
made by bullet which entered the left
breast Just below the nipple, passing
downward and lodging in the small OF
the back. From appearances the chin,
wound was made after death. DR..
Smith, who examined the body, de
clared it impossible for Collier to have
shot himself where blood was frs.
found, and then to have walked mile
and a half. Two persons in opposite
directions heard the shots, and both
agree that there were first two shots III
quick succession and then one about
five minutes later. There are
TWO THEORIES
about tbs case-one that Collier COM
mittcd suicide, the other that he was
enticed from his home and deliberately
shot. There is still another, for which,
however, there does not seem as yet to
be sufficient grounds. 1t is said that lie
was suspected by the negroes as being
implicated in the recent lynching OF
Reuben Cole, and as some of them
have been very much excited over the
lynching he may have been shot by one
of Coles friends. The coroner's in
quest, it is hoped, will clear up the mys-
terry.